Vaccine against influenza and covid | More than a million people have been vaccinated against flu and Covid in the Community, the highest figure in history.

The decision to open Valencia’s health centers to provide vaccinations without appointments after a wave of infections in the Community allowed many people to be immunized, which explains these data, never before seen at the end of the campaign. . The Minister of Health Marciano Gómez, at the inauguration, highlighted some of the events and results of the immunization carried out in the autumn and winter of 2023-2024, during which the population of the Community was protected against influenza, Covid and respiratory diseases. syncytial virus (RSV).

The council member stated that “illness is a setback for the healthcare system and it is about avoiding it, both through healthy habits and health promotion.” Gomez stressed that last year, for the first time, children under one year of age were immunized against RSV, which means a decrease in serious cases of infection with the virus. “Thanks to this immunization, which will be carried out again this year, more than 33,000 children have improved their quality of life and avoided hospital visits.”

In particular, 33,672 minors born from April 2023 to the end of March 2024 have been vaccinated in both health centers and maternity wards of birth hospitals since October, with very good acceptance and implementation, meaning a very high coverage – 94.40%. percentage that has reduced serious RSV infections in young children.

From 60 years old

The Department of Health has expanded flu and Covid vaccinations to people aged 60 and over, an expansion from the previous year when it was administered to people aged 65 and over. The coverage achieved was 56.05% for influenza vaccination and 49.28% for Covid vaccination among people aged 60 years and above. A total of 863,796 people were vaccinated against Covid, of whom 689,799 were aged 60 years or older.

Vaccination has been extended to the entire population, which the department considers particularly vulnerable. “With regard to protection in the socio-medical sector, satisfactory coverage was achieved with the vaccination of residents of nursing homes and persons with functional diversity,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement. 29,237 residents were vaccinated against influenza with a coverage of 92.79% against influenza and 82.44% against Covid.

Another novelty of last season was the launch for the first time of influenza vaccination aimed at children aged 6 to 59 months, which managed to protect not only this group of children under 5 years of age, but also their contacts that they may have. for example, their classmates in their educational center and their immediate family environment: their parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, who are the most vulnerable people. In the same group, the vaccine was first used for intranasal administration (for children aged 24 to 59 months), which favors its acceptance by children. Thus, according to the Ministry of Health, a total of 65,440 children from 6 to 59 months were vaccinated.

In addition to assessing the results of immunization against respiratory viruses in the 2023-2024 season, the conference considered proposals for planning for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. In this sense, the Minister of Health thanked for the participation of all personnel involved in the vaccination and immunization of the population of the Community and expressed the conviction that, despite the figures achieved, everything can be improved, and in this sense he. expressed the department’s wish that “the experience of this season allows us to identify ways of improvement for the next one”, concluded Marciano Gómez.